PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Recently adopted legislative changes in Tanzania would apply to the Ngualla project, but developer Peak Resources said on Monday that impacts would be manageable if rare-earth prices continued to rise.
Peak MD Darren Townsend said the new legislation appeared to be focused mainly on precious and base metals producers with mining development agreements containing historic concessions.
The Ngualla project would be affected by the requirement that the State own at least 16% of mining projects.
Peak pointed out that although a free-carried interest did not affect project returns, it might impact on development funding arrangements and the distribution of future cash or dividends to remaining shareholders.
A 1% clearing fee on the value of all minerals exported from the country would also be applicable to the project.
The company said that based on an internal and external review process, the legislative changes in Tanzania were not sufficient to warrant a halt or change in the development plans for Ngualla.
The country's Parliament in July enacted the Natural Wealth and Resources Bill 2017 and the Natural Wealth and Resources Contracts Bill 2017, allowing the government to force mining companies to renegotiate contracts. The Bills cover natural resource contracts and sovereignty and would amend existing laws to allow the government to renegotiate or dissolve contracts with multinational companies. The country has also raised export royalties for gold, copper, silver and platinum exports to 6% from 4%, and increased the royalty on uranium exports from 5% to 6%.